A stunned courtroom heard how terrified Aimee Radley felt blood spurt on her as ex-partner James Burton stabbed her new boyfriend in the kitchen of her terraced home in Hinckley.

During an emotional and dramatic second day of Burton’s murder trial Miss Radley gave evidence behind a curtain, shielded from the public gallery and the dock.

Burton, 33, of Parry Close, Earl Shilton, denies a charge of murdering Matthew Dunn, of Wednesbury, and also of threatening to kill his son - a 14-month-old infant.

He has pleaded guilty to making threats to kill and inflicting grievous bodily harm on another person.

Often breaking down in tears 24-year-old Miss Radley told a jury at Leicester Crown Court how she had been scared every moment she was in a relationship with Burton, and every moment she was out of it.

Miss Radley and Burton, 33, of Parry Close, Earl Shilton, had a fairly short but volatile relationship which she ended in April 2013 around six months after she had given birth to their son.

Recalling the events of January 24 she explained her new boyfriend of only a few months, Mr Dunn, arrived, as he had arranged, at her home in Factory Road, after finishing a nightshift in Wolverhampton.

She said she was going to make him breakfast but wanted a cigarette first and when she unlocked the back door to go outside, Burton pushed his way in.

“James just looked at Matthew, he was shocked to see him and then he just started stabbing him. Matthew told me to go upstairs.

“I stood holding my son and I watched as James repeatedly stabbed him, five or six times. Blood went all up my wall, I felt some on my face, and I don’t know if it was in my mind or not but I felt it spurt.”

Questioned by prosecutor William Harbage QC she described how she ran upstairs taking her son with her and held him out of the front bedroom window, hoping someone would catch him if she dropped him to safety.

Her attempts were foiled when Burton came into the room. Miss Radley recalled: “James said `I’ve killed him, I’ve murdered him and it’s all your fault.’

“Then he told me we were all going to die that day and his words to me were `I will start with the child and make you watch then I will slit your throat and decapitate your head and then I will kill myself.’”

Her words prompted an outburst from Burton in the dock who was heard to say “You’re lying”.